How a logistics SME cut injuries by 30% in six weeks

A regional logistics business — forty staff, two warehouses, an average of six reportable musculoskeletal incidents a quarter — asked us to look at why their numbers refused to fall despite generous PPE and a good safety culture. The answer turned out to live in three places nobody had measured.

First, the pallet-lift handles. They sat two inches too low for the average shoulder height of the team, which forced a small but constant ulnar deviation through every shift. Second, the rotation schedule. Pickers stayed on the same line for full days, so any awkward reach repeated thousands of times before lunch. Third, the loading dock lighting, which dropped sharply at one end, pushing staff into a forward neck posture they did not notice they were holding.

We made three changes. New handle heights on the lifts (a £180 spend). A two-hour rotation with a documented changeover. Two extra LED panels at the dim end of the dock. Within six weeks, reportable incidents fell by roughly a third. The team reported less end-of-day fatigue almost immediately.

Nothing here was clever. It was the unglamorous work of looking at the actual job, with the actual people, and adjusting the environment to fit them. Most ergonomic wins are exactly this size.